UPDATE: We have heard from Umpires TV/Radio that this app is not coming from RIM though they are working close with RIM to promote it. RIM mistakenly stated that they were also involved in launching the app. Umpires also let us know that currently the app is only compatible with the Curve device line with a Torch compatible version coming soon. They rushed out this version to cash in on the World Series angle. Hopefully they will improve the app soon!

RIM just let us know about a very odd application that they launched together with Umpires TV/Radio Inc. The app is called “You Make The Call” and tests your baseball knowledge along with learning the answers to the most perplexing and controversial baseball plays.

The odd parts are that:

The app was not developed by either RIM or the Umpires TV/Radio Inc but rather by a vendor called Bright Key (not so weird but keep reading)

The app is HUGE at 5.8 megabytes! That is bigger than BBM!

The download link RIM sent us is an IP address… They don’t like App World?

When you launch the app it plays a super annoying song that you cannot turn off and then hangs “loading…” It will then hang “Stopping…” and if you keep on pushing buttons it will finally work…

It keeps talking and playing sounds without offering you the ability to mute them and see text instead. In other words DO NOT try to download and use this app in a meeting.

I cannot get the app to close… Had to hard reset. Maybe it just doesn’t work on the Torch?

It’s easy to imagine BlackBerry smartphone users playing games in a public place, be it at work, on public transit, or while waiting in line. If they’re blasted by music every time they run the game, they’ll probably avoid playing it for fear of drawing attention to themselves. The best approach is to have the sound off when the game is launched and provide an option for the user to turn it on.

B) The game state should allow for pausing and saving for future use.

If you’re not automatically saving game state at regular intervals, you should do so any time the app is backgrounded. As discussed in Tip 1, applications are not explicitly suspended when it receives the MIDlet.pauseApp() event, as background processing is permitted by the platform. You can use this feature to your advantage.

C) Users might not have the patience for long animations.

Whether it’s a speech bubble or an animation for advancing the storyline of the game, always offer the user a way to skip and/or speed it along.